Daemen College : News : News Releases
Daemen College Awarded Grant for Ecotrail
Daemen College has been awarded a grant of $490 from The Wild Ones Seeds for Education program to purchase seeds for the Daemen College Ecotrail. Daemen Professors Brenda Young and Kevin Kegler co-authored the proposal, and The Niagara Frontier Wildlife Habitat Council is the local chapter of Wild Ones that endorsed the project. Daemen was one of eleven institutions from a national pool of fifty-six applicants to be chosen as a grant recipient.
The Ecotrail was started in the Fall of 2006 as a project of an interdisciplinary environmental service-learning course taught by Brenda Young and Kevin Kegler. The trail was designed and is under creation by faculty members and Daemen students in conjunction with non-major courses in environmental science and environmental service learning. Students learn about and apply sustainable landscaping and building practices. The Ecotrail also offer hands-on educational activities for both the college community and local K-12 students and teachers.
Currently, there are some well-established native trees on the trail, but much of the understory includes invasive species, which will be removed as part of the project. Funding will be used to purchase seeds for plantings of native species that will provide early spring color, attract pollinators throughout the summer and provide annual food for wildlife. A demonstration rain garden is also planned for a depression area near the start of the trail. Information will be displayed on the purpose of the garden and the native plants used in the project.
Wild Ones is a not-for-profit environmental education and advocacy organization that promotes environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. The Wild Ones Seeds for Education Program (SFE) began in 1996 and was named in honor of naturalist and Wild Ones inspirational leader Lorrie Otto, a pioneer in the natural landscaping movement in the United States.